Float valve guide for water closet tank



April 23, 1968 o. J. BENNETT 3,378,856

FLOAT VALVE GUIDE FOR WATER CLOSET TANK Filed Aug. 27, 1965 y 2 Sheets-Sheet l ii 2 I l' 46 I I 32\ 42 .24. l 277 I l .1M

I4- l im ,5 iii 5M? Y l i INVENTUR.

' BY'UrvanJ. Bennett Fig. 3 wwuzgpz ATTORNEYS April 23, 1968 o. .1` BENNETT 3,378,855

4 FLOAT VALVE GUIDE FOR WATER CLOSET TANK Filed Aug. 27, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Orvan J. Benneft ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,378,856 FLOAT VALVE GUIDE FOR WATER CLOSET TANK Orvan J. Bennett, Fort Lupton, Colo., assigner to Grvan I. Bennett, Fort Lupton, Jack E. Bennett, Denver, and Aldena A. Baskor, Longmont, Colo.

Filed Aug. 27, 1965, Ser. No. 483,260 3 Claims. (Cl. 4-57) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The invention concerns a oat valve guide for a standard water closet tank. The guide replaces the conventional metal sleeve through which the lift rod on the float valve would conventionally extend. The guide is formed as an inverted, cup-like structure adapted to receive the tioat valve. It has an enlarged orifice in its top to receive the boss at the top of the oat valve.

The cup-shaped float valve guide is sized and positioned to receive and to hold the oat valve a suitable distance above the entrance seat of the discharge pipe at the oor of the water tank so that it will drop upon the seat as the tank drains. When lifted, the float valve lits loosely within the guide, with the lloat valve boss being in the orifice top. When the oat valve is dropped onto the seat to close the Water tank, the lift rod is in the oriiice where it is permitted to swing to any of a number of various positions which the iloat valve might assume while it is moving to its seat.

This invention relates to water closet tanks and more particularly to float valve guides therefor, a primary object of the invention being to provide a novel and improved guiding arrangement for the float valve of a water closet tank which elects enhanced and reliable operation without maintenance for a long period of time. As such, the invention will be referred to as a float valve guide.

The construction of a water closet tank, its controls, the intake valve and the oat valve which closes the outlet have become almost completely standardized. Moreover, most parts needed to repair these tanks are easily obtained at low cost and may be installed by anyone without the needfor special tools or skills. Perhaps the most vexing problem encountered in the operation of a conventional water closet tank occurs whenever the rod holding the lloat valve becomes worn or rusted, or when the guide holding1 this rod becomes worn or accidentally misaligned. This will cause the float valve to stick, not seat properly and leak, often in an erratic manner with the float valve functioning properly for awhile and then sticking for no apparent reason. Another diametrically opposite problem lies in the fact that when the oat valve is properly operating in its guide, it will always seat in the same posi tion, and this tends to wear out the valve much quicker than if it were to be seated in a slightly ditferent position upon each operation.

Many different types of valves, such as hinged valves, have been proposed and devised to improve the performance of a conventional water closet, and while some are worthwhile improvements, none have been generally accepted. It appears that most people are so familiar with a conventional water closet construction, that they are reluctant to change the components therein, and are especially reluctant to use any construction which requires anything other than easily available float valves and the simple, cheap lift rods which are attached to the float valve and to the lift lever, and which must be replaced from time to time.

The present invention was conceived and developed with the foregoing considerations in view, and comprises, in essence, a float valve guiding structure which replaces the restrictive rod guide of a conventional unit and which is distinctive in that the oat valve itself is guided to its seat, and the lift rod attached to the iioat valve is not held or restricted in any passageways which may wear.

Accordingly, another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved float valve guide for a water closet tank which is adapted to be installed in a conventional Water closet tank to replace the conventional rod guide without modifying or altering the other conventional components in the tank in any way whatsoever, so that standard, easily-available oat valves and rods may be used whenever maintenance is required.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved oat valve guide for a water closet tank which gives the tloat valve a moderate degree of freedom of movement, but at the same time precisely guides it to a proper seating position upon every operation, also with the seating action occurring at slightly different positions on the body of the valve upon each operation to provide for a maximum operative life of the oat valve.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved tloat valve guide for a water closet tank which does not need to be set in a precise manner for proper operation and which eliminates problems concerned with faulty operation of a water closet because of wear or slight misalignment of the components therein.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved float valve guide for a Water closet tank which may be used interchangeably with practically any conventional unit although small differences in dimensions will occur in the various different types of water closet units.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a novel and improved iloat valve guide for a water closet tank which is a simple, low-cost and easily-installed unit and may be manufactured from materials which will permit it to last for the life of the tank.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, all of which more fully hereinafter appear, my invention comprises certain constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements as hereinafter described, delined in the appended claims and illustrated in preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation view of a water closet tank, but with a substantial portion of the front wall of the tank being removed to show the interior thereof and with the improved float valve mounted in position above the outlet of the tank. l

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional and plan view of the tank interior as taken from the indicated line 2 2 at FIG. 1, but on an enlarged scale.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional elevational view as taken from the indicated line 3 3 at FIG. 2. Y

FIGURE 4 is an isometric view of the float valve guid per se.

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of a float valve guide, as from the indicated arrow 5 at FIG. 4, but illustrating a .modified construction of the same.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary sectional elevation view, similar to FIG. 3, but showing the float valve as being lifted for discharge of the water from the tank.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view, similar to FIG. 3, but illustrating at one extreme position which the lloat valve may assume when it returns to the seat and with broken lines indicating another position which the oat valve may assume when it returns to the seat.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the conventional water closet tank, wherein the irnproved valve guide is used, will be first described. FIG. 1 is illustrative of a conventional water closet tank T, a `box1ike unit having comparatively narrow sidewalls s, a bottom b, a front wall f and a rear wall r, a lid l to complete the unit. This tank may be mounted either upon a wall behind a water closet or upon the water closet itself in any conventional manner, not shown. An inlet line extends upwardly through the bottom b at one side of the tank to upstand within the tank with a shut olf valve 11 being aixed to the top of the line 10 near the top of the tank. This shut oif valve is closed `by a lever 12 having a oat 13 at its outer end, the lever being adjusted to permit the tank to lill to a selected level before being shut ofi.

The outlet structure for the tank is at an opening 14 located at the center of the bottom b of the tank, and this outlet is formed as a pre-assembled structure carried upon a short, tubular discharge pipe 15 which is adapted to be mounted within the opening 14. The pipe 15 is formed with a belled entrance 16 which functions as a valve seat. A flange 17 girdles the pipe 15 a short distance below the seat and is adapted to rest upon a washer gasket 18 which, in turn, rests upon the bottom of the tank about the opening 14, with the pipe 15 extending downwardly and through the opening. This lower portion of the pipe is externally threaded, as at 19, to receive a lock nut 20 which may be turned against a washer 21 at the underside of the tank bottom, this arrangement being effective to secure the outlet structure to the bottom of the tank with a water-tight fit. The bottom of this pipe 15 may be connected to a conduit or directly to the back of a closet bowl in any conventional manner, not shown.

The outlet structure also includes an overow pipe 22 which upstands from an arm 23 which, in turn, outstands laterally from the discharge pipe 15 in the short space between the entrance 16 and the mounting ange 17, the arm 23 including a passageway 24 opening into the side of the pipe and communicating with the overflow pipe.

A resilient, hollow oat valve 25 is adapted to close the outlet by seating upon the outlet entrance 16 and is formed of rubber or a suitable rubber-like material. This oat is conventionally formed with a lower portion 26 being substantially hemispherical, and constituting the seating portion thereof. An opening 27 is located at the bottom of this hemispherical seating portion to drain the valve whenever it is seated. The upper portion, above the equator of the seating hemisphere 26, is formed as a atsloped shoulder 28 having a boss 29 upstanding from the center of the valve. The boss 29 includes a short, tubular insert 30 of rigid material which is internally threaded to receive a lift rod 31 which upstands from the valve to extend upwardly into the tank.

The lift rod 31 is a rigid, wire-like member approximately four inches long, having threads 32 at its base, connecting it into the insert 30, and an eye 33 at its top which serves as an abutment for a pull rod 34. The pull rod 34 is slidably connected to the lift rod and is adapted to extend upwardly from the lift rod to a lift arm near the top of the tank. The pull rod is offset from the lift rod by having its lower end turned laterally to form a short oifset 35. This olset terminates as a silde eye 36 through which the lift rod 31 extends. The upper end of the pull rod 34 is connected to the lift arm 37 near the top of the tank. This lift arm, in turn, is carried on a pivot, not shown, which extends through the front wall of the water tank to carry an external hand level 38.

This conventional arrangement of components for a water closet tank is fully operative even without a valve guide, although such operation would not be dependable. The hand lever 38 may be depressed to raise the lift arm 28 which, in turn, by pulling the pull rod 34 and lift rod 31 upwardly, lifts the float valve 25 from its seat 16 to initiate a ushing action. Once the hollow iioat valve 25 is pulled away from the seat 16, it rises towards the Water surface Within the tank with the lift rod 31 sliding upwardly in the eye 36 of the pull rod. As the tank empties, the float surface within the tank with the lift rod 31 sliding upwardly in the eye 36 of the pull rod. As the tank empties, the ioat valve then drops downwardly and finally into position upon the outlet to initiate another cycle of operation.

The improved valve guide 40 is formed as an inverted, cup-like structure having a cylindrical wall 41 depending from a top 42 as a skirt. This skirt 41 is approximately one-fourth inch greater in diameter than the equator of the float valve 25 and has a height approximately the same as the height of the float valve, for in operation of the unit, the float valve will move upwardly into this guide to lit loosely therein. The top 42 is formed with an enlarged central orice 43 through which the lift rod 31 extends, with the orilice 43 being sized to receive the boss 29 on the float valve with a moderately loose t, as inthe manner illustrated at FIG. 6.

This valve guide 40 is carried upon an arm 44 which extends across the top 40 to reinforce it and extends laterally and to one side thereof for connection with the overflow pipe 22. This connection of the arm 44 with the overiiow pipe 22 may be in various ways. The arm illustrated at FIG. 3 includes an orifice 45 extending through it which is reinforced by `a depending hub 46 to hold the arm in a substantially rigid, outstanding position.

It is contemplated that this valve guide 40 may be manufactured of a comparatively stiff, but resilient material, such as a moderately hard rubber so that it will normally retain its shape when in use, but will yield to shock or undue pressure to prevent its breaking. Also, it is contemplated that the orifice 45 in the reinforcing flange will be of a diameter slightly less than the diameter of the overflow pipe 22 so that it may be slid into position upon the pipe with a tight, resilient tit.

This valve guide may also be made of a synthetic resin, such as a high-impact styrene which, though comparatively rigid, is sufficiently resilient to yield to shock or pressure and will not easily break. This will require a modified construction of an arm 44a to provide a connection to an overflow pipe 22, such as illustrated at FIG. 5. A slot 47 is cut into the end of the arm 44a to the orifice 45a. A wing nut 48 extends through suitable holes in the end of the arm 44a transversely of the slot, and this wing nut 48 is adapted to be tightened to narrow the slot and decrease the diameter of the orifice 45a. Accordingly, when the arm 44a is mounted upon the overflow pipe 22, it is secured in position with a tight, positive tit by the simple operation of tightening the wing nut 48.

The valve guide 40 must be positioned on the overow pipe 22 so that it is directly above the discharge pipe 15, and in an alignment such that the axis of the guide 40 will be as close as is practical to the vertical axis of the discharge pipe 15. Actually, a precise alignment of the guide 40 with the discharge pipe 15 is not essential because of the very loose it of the valve 25 when it is within the guide cup 40. This permissible leeway in the alignment of the guide 40 with respect to the discharge pipe 15 is advantageous in that it not only permits installation of the valve guide without the need of a precise setting operation, but also permits a standard valve guide structure to be produced which will tit any one of a number of different commercial makes of outlet structures where the location of the overflow pipe 22 with respect to the outlet pipe 15 may vary as much as one-fourth inch.

Also, the valve guide 40 must be placed on the overow pipe 22 at a selected distance above the discharge pipe. This distance, which may be referred to as rthe distance of the lower edge 50 of the skirt 41 above the outlet entrance 16, may be varied somewhat, but on a rule-of-thumb basis, it is prefenably one-half the diameter of the outlet pipe f15. In `a `conventional Water ltank which is provided with Ia twoJinleh pipe :15, this distance would be lthu's one tinlch.

This positioning of the valve guide above the seat may be varied somewhat from the one-half diameter rule, but it still must be between limits which can be easily established by simple tests. If the guide is too close to the outlet, the float valve will drop back onto and close the outlet whenever it is lifted into the cup-like guide, for the rush of water past the skirt edge 50 and into ythe outlet will not provide suiiicient buoyancy to support the valve 25. Based upon theoretical considerations, a limiting position would be a distance where the distance of the skirt edge 50 above the outlet entrance 16 is approximately one-fourth of diameter of the pipe 15, or one-half inch.

If the guide is too far above the outlet, the float valve may shift or be thrown laterally and out of alignment with the seat as it drops towards the outlet entrance when the tank is being emptied. This is because of an erratic swirling action of water which occurs as the lwater closet tank is being emptied and when the water level may actually be below the skirt edge 50. However, this lateral shifting of the valve cannot occur until the outer edge of the shoulder 28 drops below the skirt 41 of the guide. Accordingly, if the lower end of the valve 25 is sufliciently close to the outlet entrance 16- as to be within the influence of water flowing into that entrance before the shoulder of the valve drops below the lower skirt edge Si), lateral displacement cannot occur. A maximum height of the skirt edge Sti above the entrance 16 is approximately one diameter of the pipe 15, or two inches, but as a practical matter, this maximum height may be established as being approximately three-fourths of a the diameter of pipe i5, where the bottom of the Float valve is substantially within the outlet entrance 16 before the shoulder drops below the lower skirt edge 50.

A further advantage of the valve guide resides in permitting a free seating action as the float valve closes when the water closet is drained. The lift rod 31 upstanding from the float valve 25 is laterally restrained only by the comparatively large orifice 43 and the top 42 of the guide. This permits the float valve 25 to rotate slightly as it rests upon the seat 16. In this manner, the float valve can find a proper seating position every time it closes, and it will also seat at different positions upon each closure to enhance and extend its useful life, variations of closure being illustrated at FIG. 7.

I have now described my invention in considerable detail; however, it is obvious that others skilled in the art can build and devise alternate and equivalent constructions `which are nevertheless within the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence, l desire that my protection be limited not by the constructions illustrated and described, but only by the proper scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a water closet tank having an outlet entrance seat at the oor thereof, a standpipe adjacent thereto,a iioat valve adapted to normally rest upon the seat to close the outlet formed as a hollow, generallyhemispherical body with a boss at its top from whence a lift rod upstands, and means to pull the lift rod to lift the valve from the orifice seat, of: a guide, in the general form of an inverted cup, adapted to be mounted within the Vtank and upon the standpipe a short distance above the float valve, said guide having ygenerally cylindrical walls with a diameter suiciently large to receive the oat valve with a loose fit when it is lifted from the outlet seat, a generally attened top with an orifice therein adapted to receive the boss of the tioat valve when the float valve moves into the guide, and means associated with the standpipe to hold the guide above the outlet, whereby when the float valve is lifted, as to drain the water closet tank, it will move upwardly and into the guide with the boss moving into the top orice and, as the tank is drained, the Iloat valve will be restrained by the guide to drop onto the outlet entrance with the lift rod then being within the top orifice to it therein with a very loose, sloppy fit, permitting random movements of the float valve as it drops onto the seat Without restriction by the movements of the lift rod in the orifice.

2. In the organization set forth in claim 1, Where the lower edge of the guide is above the outlet entrance a distance which is approximately one-half the outlet diameter.

3. In the organization set forth in claim 1 where the lower edge of the `guide is above the outlet entrance a distance which is greater than one-fourth the outlet diameter and less than one outlet diameter.

References Cited] UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,439,268 12/ 1922 Shoppe et al. 4--57 2,087,099 7/ 1937 Tilden 4-52 2,135,231 1l/1938 David 4-57 2,626,399 1/ 1953 Blair 4--57 2,657,395 11/1953 Walker 4-57 2,689,352 9/1954 Pegler 4-52 2,719,304 10/1955 Schultz 4-57 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,369,900 7/1964 France.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner. D. MASSENBERG, Assistant Examiner. 

